What is GUFF? Known, depending on the direction in which it's running, as the Get Up-and-over Fan Fund and the Going Under Fan Fund, GUFF was created in 1979 as a means of "closing the gap" between TAFF, linking Europe and North America, and DUFF, linking North America with Australia. Like them, GUFF exists to provide funds to enable well-known fans from Europe and Australia to visit each other's national (or other) conventions and get to know each other's fandoms better. GUFF operates on a less frequent schedule than TAFF and DUFF, but like them exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates for each trip are voted on by interested fans, and each vote is accompanied by a monetary donation. These votes, and the continue generosity of fandom, are what make GUFF possible.
Who may Vote? Voting in the 2000 race to send an Australian fan to the 2001 British National Convention is open to anyone who was active in fandom prior to Easter 1999, and who contributes at least £5 or A$10 to the fund. Larger contributions will be gratefully accepted. Voting is by secret ballot; only one vote per person is allowed, and you must sign your ballot.
Deadline Votes must reach the administrators no later than midnight on Monday, 13 November 2000.
Voting Details
GUFF uses a preferential ballot system which guarantees automatic
runoffs until a majority is obtained. You rank your candidates in
order of your preference for them. If the leading first-place
candidate does not have a majority after the first round of counting,
the first-place votes for the lowest-placed candidate are discarded,
and the second-place votes on those ballots are counted as
first-place votes for the candidates concerned. This process is
repeated until one candidate has a majority of all the votes cast.
Votes for second and third place candidates are therefore important;
but you may not rank your favoured candidate in more than one
position on your ballot.
Hold Over Funds This choice, like "No Award" in award balloting, gives you the chance to vote for no GUFF trip to the 2001 Eastercon if for any reason the candidates do not appeal. Hold Over Funds may be voted for in any position on the ballot.
No Preference This is for voters who do not wish the GUFF trip to be held over, but who either cannot or prefer not to decide between the candidates.
Donations GUFF gratefully accepts your freely given money and material for auction; such generosity has sustained the fund in addition to voting donations. If you're not eligible to vote, or for some reason you don't wish to vote, why not give anyway? (Give early and give often!)
Candidates Each candidate has posted a bond of A$20, sworn an almighty oath that unless struck down by an iceberg, meteorite or other act of a higher power they will travel to the Eastercon in Britain in 2001, if elected; and provided signed nominations and a 100-word platform extolling their many interests and virtues (reprinted overleaf).
Please read both sides of this ballot before voting. Send the entire sheet as your vote.
Name:
____________________________________________________________________
Address:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Signature:
_________________________________________________________________
Enclosed is ____________ as a contribution to
GUFF. Please make £ or US$ cheques or other money orders payable
to Paul Kincaid,
A$ cheques or money orders payable to GUFF. If you think your name may
not be known to the administrators then, to ensure that your vote
qualifies to be counted, please give in the space below the name and
address of an active fan (not a fan group, a candidate or one of
their nominators) to whom you are known and who is known to (one of)
the administrators:
Eric Lindsay & Jean Weber
Secret masters of getting someone else to run a WorldCon after we've
successfully bid for it, Eric (Party Animal) and Jean (Project
Manager) want to visit UK and other European fans in their native
habitats. Jean has never been to the UK, and Eric hasn't visited
since 1972. Now retired from the paid workforce, we have lots of time
to travel, party, and produce fanzines and websites, but little
income to support our habits. You probably know our fanzines
Gegenschein and WeberWoman's Wrevenge. Our sf websites
are at http://www.wrevenge.com.au/wrevenge/ and
http://www.wrevenge.com.au/psiphi/ and our Australian travel website
is at http://www.avalook.com.au
Nominators: Eve & John Harvey, Irwin Hirsh, Dave Langford, Perry
Middlemiss and Lyn McConchie
Damien Warman and Juliette Woods
We've been fans all our adult lives - even if that is only the last ten
years. We've edited fmz, organized relaxacons, run Adelaide's discussion
group "Critical Mass" and have now started the OzMemoryHole.
We are eager to expand our fanning interstate and inter-State,
strengthening ties within Australia and to Europe. We know that GUFF
isn't all real beer and skiffy. We're dead keen to admin - this is our
real chance to make connections. Barring acts of gods, we'll be fun and
frolicsome at Paragon and travel hard in search of fans in the UK and on
the Continent.
Nominators: Claire Brialey, John Foyster and Yvonne Rousseau, Roman
Orszanski, Marc Ortlieb and Gregory Pickersgill
I vote for (enter 1, 2, etc.)
[ __ ] Eric Lindsay & Jean Weber
[ __ ] Damien Warman & Juliette Woods
[ __ ] No Preference
[ __ ] Hold Over Funds
Send completed ballots to either of the following addresses:
UK Agent Paul Kincaid, 60 Bournemouth Road, Folkestone, Kent
CT19 5AZ, UK
Australian Agent Karen Pender-Gunn, P.O. Box 567, Blackburn,
Victoria 3130, Australia
This is the official voting form, but copying of this ballot is
encouraged provided that the text is reproduced unaltered. Anyone
copying this ballot should insert their name in the space below: